1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a laminated ceramic electronic component such as a laminated ceramic capacitor, and more particularly, it relates to a method of manufacturing a laminated ceramic electronic component, which is characterized in a method of forming internal electrodes.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a laminated ceramic capacitor is manufactured through the following steps:
First, ceramic green sheets, which are shaped by a doctor blade method or the like, are prepared and paste containing a metal such as palladium, silver-palladium or nickel, for example, is screen-printed on each ceramic green sheet in prescribed patterns, for forming internal electrodes. Such ceramic green sheets are generally cut in a later step to obtain a plurality of laminated ceramic capacitors. Therefore, the paste for forming internal electrodes is distributed in a plurality of portions on each ceramic green sheet.
Then, a plurality of such ceramic green sheets, which are provided with metal paste members, are stacked and pressed to be brought into contact with each other. Thereafter such a laminate is cut to obtain chips for respective laminated ceramic capacitors.
Then each chip is fired. Thereafter metal paste is applied to prescribed outer surface regions of the chip to provide external electrodes, and then fired. Thus, a laminated ceramic capacitor is completed.
In order to obtain large capacitance in a laminated ceramic capacitor with reduction in size, the distance between each pair of internal electrodes, which are opposite to each other along the direction of stacking, is reduced. The thickness of a ceramic layer provided between each pair of opposite internal electrodes may be reduced to attain such an object. However, when the thickness of such a ceramic layer is simply reduced, the ratio of an internal electrode 2 to a ceramic layer 1 in thickness is increased, as typically shown in FIG. 10. Even if the thickness of the ceramic layer 1 can be reduced to about 5 to 10 .mu.m, for example, that of the internal electrode 2, which is formed by screen printing as hereinabove described, is still maintained at about 6 to 10 .mu.m.
Thus, it is difficult to stack and compress such ceramic layers 1, which are in the state of ceramic green sheets provided with metal paste layers of prescribed patterns for forming the internal electrodes 2. This is because the metal paste layers for forming the internal electrodes 2, which are only partially provided on the interfaces between the pairs of adjacent ones of the ceramic green sheets, make such a stacked body irregular in thickness along the surface direction of the stacked body.
When the ceramic chip is fired, on the other hand, shrinkage of the ceramic layers is extremely influenced by that of the metal paste layers, to cause cracking, non uniform firing shrinkage and the like.
Further, the metal paste layers contain a solvent, which swells or dissolves the ceramic green sheets to cause short-circuiting across the internal electrodes, reduction in voltage resistance and the like. Thus, problems are caused in reliability and quality.